Understanding the DNA of low carbon leadership, and how it will be catalyzed in India

So we did this pilot experiment to demonstrate that it’s not just a theoretical opportunity but a practical opportunity too on the ground. It also serves its users, particularly when placed at pedestrian crossings, making women and children feel safer. Our project has taught us many new lessons - we looked at some technical and regulatory barriers too. For example, in some places, one of the biggest barriers was from people measuring light output from energy use. Clearly LEDs failed because they weren’t consuming enough energy. In other places people were interested in yellow light and because LEDs produce a lot of white light they were left out. So we had to look at some of the technical and regulatory barriers to overcome perceptions. However, in terms of energy and emission reduction potential and savings, we found that across the board, the savings were huge.

In India there is a lot of interest. Of the ten pilot programs around the world, four have been initiated here and the biggest one is being conducted in Kolkata. On the back of our pilot, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation secured a loan from the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and we have helped design the specifications of the tender process to install around 15,000 LED bulbs. We are also working in West Bengal more generally and in the state of Orissa as well as other parts of the country to look at what are the more macro-level policies that can be put in place to drive LEDs. These include tariffs, trade policies related to imports, and also figuring out ways and means to stimulate the domestic manufacturing of LEDs. We believe that it’s not a question of deploying LEDs and saving money and energy, but also of creating an industry that in time satisfies the demands of the domestic market.

It’s not at the moment a substitute for long distance transport but if you think of cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai or Chennai with a lot of intra-city delivery and transport, this could be an ideal solution. It deals not only with the emissions issues but the vehicles can also be used for energy storage, and you can think about renewable energy electricity sources like solar panels in depots too. We know that it can work out cheaper and we can build on scale. In India we have just begun exploring this and in the last few months, we have felt that not only within the national government, but also at the regional level, people are interested to know whether this procurement alliance is applicable here; I believe it will be. We have to then work out and put finances in place and also work with manufacturers.

The third area that we are looking at is the use of information technology. In 2008, we published a global report called SMART2020 which focuses on how information technology can help us reduce global emissions by around 15%. India has a strong ICT(Information and Communications Technology) industry. We believe that not only are there opportunities within the country to increase energy efficiency and balance different energy supplies and demands, but there is a substantial potential to export this skill too.

You have talked about the need for a local production base for LEDs in India, but there are companies here facing stiff competition owing to imports from China. At a time of such intense competition and uncertainty, what, according to you, is the future of the Indian LED industry?

Well, we have to be company neutral and product-neutral. What we advocate is — what are the best products at the best prices. My hope and my belief is that it should be possible for Indian companies to produce high-quality LEDs at a good price. I mean for example, technical capacity exits. You have great engineers, great entrepreneurs, big industrial companies, and it is not that you are starting from nowhere. Obviously, there are some barriers to entry. But I think there is scope, and the reason why I say this, is the same as it is with renewable energy; where one would hope that on the back of incentives for deployment of solar and wind, you will see a growth in the domestic solar and wind industries. This can supply the domestic market and can export as well, and so helps with the balance of payment and trade balance issues and creates a strong base in long-term streams of employment.

The whole world is moving towards cleaner energy despite recession, at least in the West. In 2009 to 2010 and 2011, investments in clean energy continued to grow. In 2011, half of all the energy investments were in the clean energy space, so there is a demand for these products. Now, like any other market, in renewables, too, we are beginning to see that solar prices have gone up and down, companies have come and gone. They have overextended themselves, got too excited. These things are always going to happen. I think there is an opportunity for India in not only providing greater energy security, satisfying the energy needs of 400 or so million people who don’t have access to clean energy and deal with those specific issues as well as diversify the energy base, but also in creating an industry and a set of businesses that are able to compete domestically and internationally. There is a role for the government. It can create a level-playing field and make sure that the investment environment is solid and reliable enough for international players to come in joint ventures. So going back to what you said about influx of Chinese LEDs, well, isn’t the answer then that Indian companies go into joint ventures with Chinese companies, bring the technology and manufacture the product here?

You also talked about the possibility of big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai having a kind of government fleet or public transportation fleet turn to electric vehicles because they have the necessary facilities like depots and they can have renewable energy as a source for charging stations. Can you explain this further?

I wasn’t thinking so much about the public transport or passenger transport. It’s more about light-use vehicles. While at the moment,EV technology is evolving very quickly, it seems to work well for medium to small vehicles. So if you think about small trucks that deliver perishable goods, newspapers and supply to small grocery shops, these actions could be carried out by an electric vehicle which only has to cover maybe 70 to 80 miles and then it goes back to the depot where it can get a fast recharge. In fast recharge, it can charge up to 30% within half an hour or an hour and can do another round.

So while talking or initiating these discussions, what kind of reactions did you witness from people in India?

Well, as I said, in India, we are really in very early days. I am hoping to come back at least two or three times this year and my team here and my colleagues here in Delhi would be exploring opportunities. We are going to float this idea to see what sort of appetite there is for this kind of projects. If there is and I believe there will be, then we will explore with the city government. I am hoping to meet the chief minister of Delhi to find if there is an opportunity to do a pilot which will have a political backing. We are not asking for money but political backing, and where there are municipal governments or municipal corporation’s fleets, we would try and find out if they would be interested in participating. Then it would be a question of attracting finances and building up a model for working on that. It’s a midterm project but something about which we are quite excited even if it’s not powered by renewables. My hope is, that in time there will be an expanding share of renewables in supplying power for charging the vehicles, thereby contributing to reduction in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. Also, in an increasingly polluted city, this initiative will help in bringing down particulate material and other emissions.

The Climate Group initiated its Clean Revolution Campaign this month in Rio de Janeiro. What has been the response of national leaders and people in general?

We have been working with the heads of regional and local governments and not the national governments. We have a network of 50 to 60 state leaders - 23 of them are members of The Climate Group, ranging from Sao Paulo to Kwa Zulu Natal to California to New York to Northern Australia. We are very pleased that this year the chief minister of Gujarat said that his state would also join The Climate Group. We believe that a lot of action can happen at state and regional levels and they are very excited about it. When The Climate Group started working, one of our main objectives was to change the way people think about climate change. While we definitely need to do something about climate change, we tried to put this thought forward that instead of it being a moral obligation with high costs, it’s about the opportunity to act and do something in the business arena. We wanted to change the way national and international politicians think about it and change the argument about who pays for mitigation to how we can create business.

We have always provided lots of evidence of companies, states and citizens that have reduced their emissions and made or saved money in the process. And the Clean Revolution Campaign is taking it to the next level. We are helping create a coalition of 200 leaders around the world, from cities, states and governments to corporates who don’t just believe it is necessary to do this, but they also think this is the only way for long-term sustainable economic growth. So we will be creating a network of leaders and providing an evidence base that shows that solutions exists, they are scalable and economically attractive. In fact, in many cases they are the best options available.

On the basis of that, we aim to understand the DNA of low carbon leadership - what or where does that success come from - what are the basic elements of that success, and then, work with our partners around the world with just a few scalable projects.

Learn more about the Clean Revolution Campaign.